restrict printing

I'm wrong. I thought PC allowed you to disable printing as well as disc burning, but apparently not. I was wrong in thinking that by restricting the ability to administer printers that it would prevent printing, but that's apparently not the case.

I guess you will have to use "real parental control" to solve this problem.

Use the web interface for the printing system at _http://127.0.0.1:631/printeers/_. Find the printers you want to restrict and click on the *Set Allowed Users* button. Just follow the directions. You can either specify users you want to allow to print or users you want to prevent from printing. You will need to enter your short administrator's user name and password.

Matt --

I can access the printers via the loopback address on both my mac book pro running 10.5.x and my iMac running 10.4.11. However, my mac book pro has the "set allowed users" option where as the iMac doesn't. Is this specific to 10.5.x?

Do I need an OS upgrade?

mca5729 wrote:
I can access the printers via the loopback address on both my mac book pro running 10.5.x and my iMac running 10.4.11. However, my mac book pro has the "set allowed users" option where as the iMac doesn't. Is this specific to 10.5.x?

Making it as easy as clicking a button is specific to OS X 10.5.x, but the capability to deny users is present in OS X 10.4.x also. See the instructions at _ http://127.0.0.1:631/sam.html#43_7 on you OS X 10.4.x machine. (That url is valid only for OS X 10.4.x.)

For both OS X 10.4 and OS X 10.5 (and I presume OS X 10.2 and 10.3 also), you can easily do it via the command line. Open the Terminal applicaiton (/Applications/Utilities) and enter the command as shown:
<pre style="overflow: auto;font-size:small; font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; color: #222; background: #ddd; padding: .3em .8em .3em .8em; font-size: 9px;">/usr/sbin/lpadmin -p printer_name -u deny:matt,tim,mary</pre>

The best way to get the proper printer name is via the web interface at _ http://127.0.0.1:631/printers_. There are usually underscores in the name that don't appear in Print & Fax or Printer Setup Utility.

Be sure to recycle the printing system (toggle printer sharing) or reboot the computer for the changes to take effect.

Matt

I've done this as you suggest, but now when the restricted user tries to print, they get a window that can only be dismissed by clicking "cancel" 5 or 6 times.

Is it possible to just have print greyed out for a user using any application?

Turn on Parental Controls for her account. You can then impose a variety of restrictions on the account.